Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Price Target Lowered to $19.00 at Barclays

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) had its target price cut by investment analysts at Barclays from $21.00 to $19.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the closed-end fund’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential downside of 3.20% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on BEN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.50 to $20.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.18.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock traded up $0.23 on Friday, hitting $19.63. 1,131,410 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,730,103. Franklin Resources has a 52 week low of $18.83 and a 52 week high of $28.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.41.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Franklin Resources will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin Resources

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BEN. State Street Corp grew its position in Franklin Resources by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $432,730,000 after acquiring an additional 599,045 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,334,601 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $147,312,000 after purchasing an additional 422,688 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 10.5% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,095,390 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $158,582,000 after purchasing an additional 676,760 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,183,950 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $71,171,000 after buying an additional 54,063 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 44.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $60,421,000 after buying an additional 925,590 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Franklin Resources

Franklin Resources, Inc is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships. It launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and multi-asset mutual funds through its subsidiaries.